Rockfreaks.net

Lowtalker

The Marathon EP

Written by: PP on 31/12/2012 01:00:50

Lowtalker are a relatively new punk supergroup out of Canada. Their lineup reads like a wet dream for any fan of the Canadian music scene: they're fronted by Stu Ross (Living With Lions/Misery Signals) on vocals, and guitars/bass are handled by Casey Hjelmberg and Matt Keil respectively of Comeback Kid fame. Pretty promising, eh? But if you were expecting a more melodic/punk version of Comeback Kid to flourish from that combination of musicians, well, you were wrong.

"The Marathon" EP largely follows in the same path as Living With Lions did on their brilliant "Holy Shit" album, except the songs are admittedly faster for the most part, and the vocals are a little bit rawer in comparison, especially in the backing vocal department. Stu Ross opts for a rougher and more hardcore-rooted delivery than his rather polished style on the aforementioned LWL record, and in general the instrumentation is a little bit more intricate and complex, often drawing parallels to the experimental pop punk of Boys Night Out from their "Trainwreck" album. But with the sort of talent that this band is housing name-wise, are we not to expect a little bit catchier songs, or alternatively, a little bit more aggression from the band?

The band seems to lack in both departments, the latter one probably intentionally as this is meant to be more of a melodic punk release than a hardcore one, even though nuances of hardcore are certainly present in Casey's riffs. At the same time, Stu doesn't sound as impassioned nor anywhere near as impactful in his verse/chorus melodies as he did with Living With Lions. As a result, the songs are decent, but never much more than that. I'm missing the big, anthemic sing alongs of LWL big time here. No matter which way you twist it, "The Marathon" EP feels like a step down from everyone involved.

Download: Tension, Barstow
For the fans of: Living With Lions, Boys Night Out,
Listen: Facebook

Release date 18.09.2012
No Sleep Records